Just Another Full Moon
by Nienna100
Summary: A window into a 'normal' full moon at Hogwarts school for our Marauders. Remus/Sirius slash set in their 5th year. No longer a oneshot
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Remus, Sirius or any of the others. They belong to J.; I just like to play with them sometimes. They have taken up residence in my mind and don't look like they're planning to leave any time soon.**

**Just Another Full Moon**

Walking towards the History of Magic classroom, Remus could not help but cringe at the volume of noise from every angle. There were conversations everywhere, people talking at each other, over the top of other voices, and even their footsteps were at a painful volume. His ears were ringing with the sheer volume of it, and damn it, it hurt. All he wanted to do was run through the crowds, find a quiet spot and shelter there, with his hands over his ears. But he could not, that was just how he felt every day before the full moon. Everything became too loud, his senses heightening to the level of a wolf's.

As they queued outside, Sirius slunk up behind him and slung his arms around his waist. Remus had been able to smell him from far down the corridor - that perfect mix of musk and cedar, and the cherry scented shampoo he used for his hair, that made Remus melt every day. Dissolving back against him, trying to ignore the looks they got whenever they showed their affection to each other, Remus sighed in relief. Sirius could always make him feel better. "How was Care of Magical Creatures?" he asked the older wizard. He would never have been able to take the subject; animals just hated him and his race too much.

"It was school, how do you think it was?" asked Sirius, in a whisper. Remus had to smile; Sirius knew what he was feeling.

"Am I never going to be able to convert you to my way of thinking? That school is actually there for a reason?" Remus said in reply.

A kiss was pressed to his hair, as Sirius growled out, "Never." A girl was scaring at the two of them, and Remus was blushing under her scrutiny. "What are you looking at?" demanded the Animagus, and the girl immediately blushed crimson and turned away. A chuckle rose in Sirius' throat.

"You enjoy that, don't you?" Remus said, smirking. His mood had risen substantially in the few short minutes since Sirius had been with him. But he had to pull away to move into the classroom. It was the last lesson of the day, and in little over an hour's time, he would be lying curled on the most uncomfortable bed man had created, in the Shrieking Shack, waiting for the moon to rise. He could already feel it, deep inside, the moon was starting to exercise its hold over him, and the wolf was moving nearer to the surface.

When it came to this time in the moon cycle, all he wanted to do was curl up and sleep, preferably with Sirius coiled around him, but he had to make his way through this last lesson. Then again, Remus thought as he slipped into his seat in the back row, it was History of Magic. Binns would not notice if he went to sleep, but then again, Remus would have so much work to catch up on when he got back to his studies after this moon. He always did.

Next to him, Sirius pushed his table to that it moved up next to Remus' – Professor Bins never noticed – much to the amusement of James. However, before James could tease them, Binns entered the room, gliding through the wall.

"Settle down class," he said, and launched into his lecture before it had. "Picking up from where we left off, the Revolutions of the North. The vampire protests of 1913 brought unrest to the civilizations and colonies of other beings too. The protests of werewolves, in the half safety of Transylvania, spurred further outrage, and the Council of Northenstow held an emergency meeting where the representatives of the region voted to repeal the Ban on Lycanthrope Lynchings of 1900." Remus stiffened, as a primordial growl built in his throat. The magic of the wolf was becoming angered and feeling threatened, it knew the history.

Sirius was doodling on a piece of paper, not paying attention to his teacher's words. He had not noticed Remus' reaction to them.

"On the 14th November 1913, the resistance groups swarmed on the werewolf's rallies, armed with weapons of silver." A whimper rose and escaped Remus' throat. Though unnoticed by the rest of the students and the teacher, Sirius looked up.

The pale shade of his face, the tension in every muscle and bone, the tremor that ran through the far too skinny body… it looked as if the moon has just risen, the fear of all that followed for the lycan. "Remus," Sirius whispered, trying to attract his lover's attention. "Remus, what's the matter?"

Suddenly, he realised the lecture at the front. "…the werewolves tried to fight, but…" Sirius swore, and, curling his hand under Remus' chin, forced the younger wizard to look at him. Though Remus' eyes tried to stay fixed to the front of the classroom, he was, in the end, distracted by Sirius' lips against his. "Calm down," whispered Sirius, close to him, their noses touching as the Animagus murmured to Remus. Those normally clear golden eyes were clouded over with the memory which was passed from werewolf to werewolf through the bits, the lives and deaths of the generations of wolves before them, so each werewolf knew of their sires and grandsires, all the way back to Romulus and Remus. The first Remus.

"All that silver, all that pain," whimpered Remus, as Sirius' free hand twined through his. Remus' hand squeezed his, bone crunchingly hard, the tendons on the back of the werewolf's hand standing out, his knuckles turning white, but Sirius did not make a sound of complaint.

"It's not happening to you, you're here, in a stuffy History of Magic classroom, with your Animagus lover holding your hand," Sirius told him, as Remus blinked tears and clouds away.

Taking shaky, shuddering breaths, Remus tried to clam down, as Sirius' leg intertwined with his beneath the table. He forced himself to look away from Sirius' concerned silver eyes and face the front, but neither of the two released the other's hand. After a few moments, Sirius raised Remus' hand to his lips, trying to comfort him.

It was not fair that Remus had to spend his whole life in fear of discovery, and, Merlin, his face when Sirius had told him that he knew what he was… the fear, that look of a caged animal backed into a corner… it hurt him every time he thought of it. But Sirius knew that this was the man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Had he a loving set of parents, he would have been warned that he was too young to be making such a decision. But he wasn't; he loved Remus, he would die for Remus, and he would never let him be hurt by discovery. 000

The lesson took another forty-five minutes, but soon enough Remus and Sirius were able to leave the room. The threesome – the couple and James – dawdled until the rest of the class had filed away, before leaning against the wall of the empty corridor. Remus leant back against the cold stone for a moment, letting the age of it calm him, and temperature sooth his heated emotions as well. Carefully, with James standing guard over them at the top of the corridor, Sirius pressed up against the lycanthrope, shielding him physically and wrapping comforting arms around him.

Pressing his lips to the top of Remus' shaggy long hair, Sirius murmured to him. "That will never happen to you Reemy. You do know that babe? Love? I am never going to let anyone touch you, you will neither see nor smell, let alone touch, silver."

"I know," whispered Remus, gazing up at Sirius with haunted amber eyes. He fiddled nervously with the lapel of Sirius' robes, and brokenly added, "But Sirius, I have to go. Madam Pomfrey is expecting me in about thirty seconds. I have to leave; she will panic if I am gone too long."

Sirius did not let go, clutching the smaller man against his chest, scattering kisses over the top of his head. "I'll be there as soon as I can. I will be there for you."

"I know," repeated Remus. Apart from that one time, six months ago, Sirius had not been left him alone to transform, Sirius had been there with him, ever since he had become an Animagus. He took in a deep breath, full of Sirius' scent, and made himself pull away from his lover. His head was bowed down as he walked past Sirius, but James stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll be there, Moony," James told him, almost sternly. It was the commanding attitude of an alpha, and Remus appreciated how the commanding tone instilled the certainty in him that the statement was fact.

Nodding at him, Remus walked away.

Sirius watched his lover's retreat, and sighed as James approached him. "Come on Pads, dinner and then we can join him. He won't be on his own up there for long. Come on."

000

The long walk up to the Shrieking Shack was always terrifying, across the grounds, in bare feet across the wet grass. The lights of the castle were behind him, but so were the people. People with eyes that could fix on him from across the grass, all the way to the tree that would swallow him. And he could smell Madam Pomfrey so intensely: a mixture of powder and lavender, primrose and the smell of the Hospital Wing – potions, blood and cleanliness. But it was not just that. She smelled like prey.

He shook his head, hating that thought. This woman was so sweet and kind, taking such good care of him with every full moon and the aftermath of it. Yet she smelled so good, her flesh so ripe, her blood so hot… the wolf's power over him was rising with each minute that passed, and he sped up his footsteps. Though the moon would not rise for another three hours, sometimes the wolf could snap up, uncalled for and unexpected. He gave a furtive glance back at the nurse, and pressed the knot of the bottom of the tree, to make it freeze.

Stepping inside the hole of the tree, Remus waved to the nurse and nodded his thanks. He was trying to leave as fast as he could, so he could get away from the woman, so he was assured that he would not hurt her.

"Good luck," she said to him, gazing at the lycanthrope with affectionate, maternal eyes. The boy's mother was dead, he had no one, and it was all she could do to try and fill something of the gap she had left in him, with the one that she was full of.

"Luck is not something I am famed for," Remus replied. Madam Pomfrey had given their traditional phrase and Remus his traditional if somewhat cynical response as they did every full moon. Even during the holidays, the moon did not stop its cycle, and Madam Pomfrey would come to him each full moon at the Shrieking Shack to take care of him. She had an affinity for that damaged, enigmatic child that she held for no other student.

000

The sight of Remus' naked form, folded up on himself on the threadbare mattress, quivering, was one of the saddest things Sirius had ever seen, and yet he had to see it every month, time after time. Remus' eyes shot up towards him, but he did not move. Sirius knelt down next to him on the bed and pressed up against him. "Hello, love."

Remus merely gave a moaning noise in response, and cuddled back against Sirius' chest, as Remus obliged him by wrapping his arms tightly around him. It took a long moment before he summoned up the strength to stay, "Missed you." Sirius' hands stroked at his scarred, pitted flesh, and his tension began to fade away.

"I am sorry," Sirius sighed, moving one hand up to stroke his lover's hair. "I got here as quickly as I could after Madam Pomfrey had returned." Remus said nothing, just tipped his head up into his love's touch as Sirius continued in the same soft tone. "James is outside, waiting, but Peter had to study." Not that he had ever been a whole lot of use. Remus just shrugged. So long as he had Sirius, and so long as he was kept contained, it did not matter. Nothing else mattered. "How long?"

Remus knew that Sirius would not be satisfied by silence for that one, and replied, "Seventeen minutes."

"Alright." They just law there, for a long time. It was a long time for Sirius, a youth of action, but for Remus it went far too fast. He could lie there forever, wrapped up in those strong, muscular arms, while he was still human. Sirius' tender kisses on his neck and hair were so heavenly, and the touches enough to distract him somewhat from the impending moon rise that started to make more violent tremors run through him, and his head begin to pound.

Sirius always knew when he had to back away; Remus' back would stiffen and arch up in pain. A keen broke out form the younger wizard's throat, and with one final burning kiss on his love's cheek, backed away. It was always a mutter of timing at this point; how long he could stay as human to distract the wolf from hurting its own body and yet be safe. "I love you, remember that," Sirius whispered, before scampering back away. He had made the mistake of staying too close once before. As he ripped his shirt off and shimmied out of his trousers, his hand brushed over the scars on his chest. Remus felt guilty whenever he saw them, despite the fact that he lost control of his movements every time he transformed.

He threw the clothes into the footlocker they kept there, which held Remus' wand and clothes as well, and then kicked it closed. "Is it true?" came James' voice through the wood of the door.

Glancing back at his lover, Sirius called out, "Oh, yes." Hair was sprouting up all over his tiny body… claws ripped through his toes and fingers… bones were crunching, cracking, bending… muscles stretched into unnatural positions. The creams and strangled yowls tearing from Sirius' throat made Sirius want to take him back in his arms and try to make it better, but he could not. He had to stand there until the last moment, when Remus' jaw was just stretching to the final length, and lifting in a howl, before he summoned up the dog inside and transformed.

Without warning, the wolf leapt up to his feet and threw itself at Padfoot, teeth bared, snarling viciously. Padfoot leapt backwards out of the way, and stared him down, his eyes fixed on Moony's, glaring. Those amber eyes were so similar to Remus', but wild, without a shred of the humanity Sirius knew was riding in there, hidden from view and out of control. After a long, long, tense moment, Moony ducked his head, registering Padfoot's control over him.

Trying not to grin, knowing that Moony would take advantage of any distraction, Padfoot's paw pulled at the door handle and let the door swing open. Prongs stood there, hoof pawing at the dusty floor, waiting to guard off any charge. After a moment of Sirius and James scanning each other's eyes, Prongs skipped to one side. Immediately, Moony took advantage of this, launching himself forwards and into the hallway, then racing down the stairs. Grinning, his blood beginning to rise with excitement, Padfoot threw himself after the wolf. The galloping of Prong's hooves came rapidly behind him, keeping up with race through the tunnels, and though his antlers made it somewhat difficult, practice helped. They had had practice.

The burst of night and fresh air and freedom assailed the wolf and he paused to suck in a lungful of blissful oxygen. But then he was surrounded by that dog and that stag. He knew that they were his pack but it was an odd pack. The stag snorted at him, and he knew the order was to stay still. Panting, his tongue lolling out, the dog moved forwards and walked around him, studying him. The wolf sat up, shifting in on himself, and suddenly became aware of the pain in so many limbs, and noted the blood spilling from the wounds. The hesitant dog, moved to lick at one of the cuts, but the wolf whipped away, his claws digging into and ripping out of flesh from the dog's shoulder. The dog whined, but did not advance any further. Glancing from left to right, from dog to stag, the wolf got to his feet, and raced towards the depths of the forest. There he could run, there he would be hidden, and oh, what was that smell?

Human.

Human in the forest, fresh and fearful and full of blood and life. Muscles bunched and released in his newly powerful body, ignoring the pain of his wounds as he always did. He was on a hunt, there was only one thing on his mind, and he would not let anything distract him. He had not had a human kill before, but he had tasted human flesh and blood before. Remus' mother's. She meant nothing to the wolf, but to the human, who was little more than an irritating fly at the moment, had hated him for it, despised it, and tried everything to get rid of him, and the wolf felt the pain that Remus did. But the pain that Remus had put them both through was worth it. Nothing beat the taste of human.

Shaking his head to clear it, the wolf let himself gallop across the bracken coated floor, streaming through the trees. And then the dog was barking at him and the stag was trying to cut him off. They had caught the scent he had, and was trying to stop him. But he would be damned if that was going to happen. He leapt, trying to clear the barrier the animals were making, but the stag caught his stomach with his antlers, and threw him to the ground. It all went black.

000

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," were the whispered words in his ear, as pain pulled Remus back to consciousness. A whine from Remus' lips uncalled for, but unrestrained, made Sirius' words and the fingers trailing nervously through his hair pause. Until, "Are you awake, Reemy love?"

"Ow," mumbled Remus, opening his eyes. Sirius' blurred face appeared above him, concern in his eyes and furrowing his forehead. "Ow, ow."

"Sweetheart, where does it hurt?" asked Sirius, urgently, pressing feather-light kisses to his lover's forehead. They only had moments. Remus blinked, trying to clear his head and his vision, as he took an inventory of his body. Gashes and tears across his back, chest and arms were flesh deep and Sirius, presumably, had tried to stem the bleeding with sheets, but he had had worse, he shifted, and found two cracked ribs that made him cry out. His head pounded violently, and he reached up an arm to his head, and found a lump the size of an egg there.

He decided on the answer of, "Everywhere."

Giving a wry chuckle, Sirius replied, "My poor love."

"I know," Remus pouted, and Sirius chuckled again. Remus knew that he had to joke and have bravado for Sirius to be able to leave the room. Without that, he would find it even more difficult to leave. And he had to; Madam Pomfrey would be on her way, and Sirius and James had to leave for breakfast and the classes they had to attend. "What happened? I don't remember… My head and my ribs."

"You… started to hunt. Someone was in the forest," Sirius said, hesitant, not wanting Remus to fear himself anymore than he already did. As Remus' eyes widened, he held up his hands. "Don't worry, we had you under control. Prongs knocked you to the ground, and you banged your head. There was a crack, and I think that was your ribs." Remus' eyes darted, as he tried to think of a cover for this. "Or for Madam Pomfrey, you threw yourself at the door, and fell back." A small smile graced Sirius' concerned features, "At least you did not feel the transformation back."

"A small blessing," muttered Remus. There was a quick knock on the door; a sign from James that Pomfrey was coming. More than half of Remus wanted to reach up for Sirius and pull him down and refuse to let him leave. The Animagus' mere presence was enough to distract Remus somewhat from the agony jabbing at him from so many places, and when Sirius touched him, he could revel in the burning from that touch rather than the torturous burning in his veins.

Planting more kisses across Remus' skin, even more frantically this time and considerately avoiding the injuries with his hands and lips, Sirius whispered, "I'll be at the Hospital Wing at lunch. I'll be there."

"I know," Remus replied, wishing desperately it could be Sirius who would take care of him, charm his wounds better, make him drink those foul healing potions… But, "Go, love."

"Love you," whispered Sirius, as he darted out of the door and straight into an invisible James. After a moment of kerfuffle, Sirius too was under the invisibility cloak.

"What took you so long?" demanded James, as they pressed backwards into the neighbouring room, to let Madam Pomfrey through. It had been too close, Sirius knew, as he waited for the matron to close the door before taking off down the stairs towards the tunnel, pulling James with him.

"He'd only just woken up, leave off," he growled, in a tone reminding James too much of the dog inside the boy. The dog with teeth that bit when the boy got annoyed. And James had no idea how Sirius could watch his lover transform and go through all of that month after month, and still be as strong as he was. So he shut up and continued walking.

000

Remus always despised the journey up to the castle again, invisible, on an invisible stretcher, being directed by Madam Pomfrey. Nurses were renowned for their steady hands, but they were not travelling over rough terrain, and every quiver of her wand sent jolt of pain through Remus, as his battered body was shaken. He curled in on himself as much as he could as they entered the castle, always wondering if someone could see him, or what would happen if they touched the stretcher, but at this time in the morning it was unlikely. And it was embarrassing… He despised how weak he was and how he had to be cared for by this woman… With his body so young, stunted by its curse, he just did not have the strength to manage each month by himself, and adolescence was always the worst time in a werewolf's life transformation wise. Everything was changing already…

He knew that when he left school he would have to find or build a new safehouse where he could not hurt himself but most importantly could not get out and hurt others. Naturally cynical from a life made hard through fate, Remus doubted that Sirius really would always be there for him. The feel of the world was that there was war brewing, and Remus knew that Sirius, who loved the adrenaline of a fight, would be there, ever reckless, fighting the good fight. But it did not bode well for life after, and the dark was powerful. Remus knew that more than most.

He would not be accepted to help the light, but the dark would be oh so tempting with the wolf inside him. To be with his own kind, able to be himself, not having to hide… That was the choice he would have to face; Sirius, recklessness, love, but misery, and fear or freedom.

000

Sirius spent breakfast and his first four lessons trying and failing to catch up lessons with sleep. Breakfast had involved a huge row with Slytherins when they dared to launch water balloons at the Gryffindor table, double potions had been a practical and needed all his attention – they often did practical involving silver when Remus was 'ill' – in Charms he had been called on to demonstrate what they were supposed to have revised, and there was no way he was falling asleep in the wet and cold of the Care of Magical Creatures lesson. He just had to wait, until the end, when he could summon up the energy to run across the lawn, up to the third floor and cannon into the Hospital Wing.

"Sirius Black, slow down, you'll do yourself an injury and we've had enough of those," commanded Madam Pomfrey from where she was cleaning the floor with her wand. Sirius didn't want to know what she was cleaning up.

"But Madam Pomfrey," he put on his best cheeky yet somehow innocent grin, "Where better to hurt myself than in here? At least here I'd get seen immediately."

"I wouldn't bet your life on it," came Madam Pomfrey's teasing voice back, "Now what did you do to yourself this time?" She became more serious – pun not intended. "How can I help?"

The cheeky grin was replaced by wide, innocent eyes, "I was worried about Remus; he didn't come back last night from the library and I heard he fell down the stairs." It was the rumour which had been set round the school and been agreed on by the nurse, and the werewolf beforehand. "Can I see him?"

A brief flash of pity lit up Madam Pomfrey's expression – she did not realise that Sirius knew – and stood, saying, "I will go and check to see if he is awake, he had to take quite a lot of pain medication, and it has made him drowsy." She disappeared for a moment, moving all the way down the word of mostly empty beds and into the curtained one at the end. Remus always took that bed, for privacy. She returned after a couple of minutes with a small smile, and said, "Go on, but not for too long. Don't wear him out."

"I would never," professed Sirius somewhat passionately, hands over his heart. How many times had he worn Remus out?

"Shoo," ordered Madam Pomfrey, and Sirius obeyed.

Remus lay there, some colour in his cheeks, but a dozy look in his eyes. There were bandages around his chest and on his arms, which were revealed on top of the sheets. His head tilted upwards to smile a greeting at Sirius, and say, "Hello, love."

Sirius responded by crawling onto the bed carefully and moulding himself against Remus' side. The cuts across his shoulder twinged their protest, but the rest of his body sighed its thanks of the soft mattress and blankets underneath him, the warmth, and the utter relaxation. And Remus, sleep without Remus… no good at all. As he pressed a kiss to the werewolf's temple, he murmured, "Hello, love. How are you?"

Shrugging, and then immediately regretting it, Remus replied, "Not in much pain, just my ribs healing which is taking the time."

"I'm sorry about that," Sirius said, for once meaning his apology, but Remus shook his head.

"You shouldn't be, the amount of damage I cause you and James each full moon. But I didn't have the time to do much damage this time round so…" Remus' words began to trail off as he saw Sirius' eyes begin to glaze over, and he rolled his own amber eyes. Confront any of the marauders with a pillow the day after full moon and sleep would beckon. But the older wizard was pale, heavy bags under his eyes. At least Remus got to be in bed. "I'll stop talking and let you sleep."

Remus raised his hand to Sirius' head to move it to his shoulder, and closed his own eyes, as his fingers lazing played with Sirius' irresistible, long, shaggy, cherry-scented dark hair. "Sorry, Reemy," came the rumble of Sirius' voice.

"I'll wake you in an hour Padfoot," Remus whispered in his reply, and was doubtful that Sirius heard.

The two intertwined bodies needed each other like oxygen, and the attraction between them was like magnets; break them apart and they would always come back together. They both had backgrounds and histories which had made the other sob at the retelling, but when their bodies were wound together like this, none of that mattered. And when they made love – strictly never in the three days before or five days after the full moon – everything was forgotten. Not past nor future nor anything in their world could invade their joining, it was just each other. That was all that mattered.

000

"Sirius Black, what do you think you're doing?" came the high pitched demand. The youth in question darted upright, eyes wide and shooting from side to side before focusing on Madam Pomfrey. "Here I was thinking it had gone quiet because you had left."

"Oh, Merlin, have I missed a lesson? Crap, I was asleep," he turned to Remus who had also woken. "Reemy, love, I'm sorry. But McGonagall's going to do her nut. I've got to go."

A moan of complaint rose from Remus, not least about the fact that his pain medication was wearing off and _shit _it hurt. A lot. Experimentally, he moved, testing his chest, and found his ribs healed, but that was never what was going to keep him in bed for the next two days. It was the residual ache after transformation, where every cell of his body had been torturously changed and changed back. The frail human form was not designed for that, and no amount of Pain-Away potions could ever fully remove it from his body. Only time. Time without Sirius, again.

Carefully, Sirius placed one, lingering kiss to Remus' lips, and whispered, "I'll be back after dinner."

Madam Pomfrey caught him by the scruff of the neck before he could sprint past her. "Although that is one of my concerns, Black, it is not the most pressing one. Turn around." Frowning, he obeyed, presenting the matron with his back. "You're not the only one here who has been injured it seems," she muttered to Remus, and then sighed, "Come on boy, let's get you sorted."

Through his haze of pain and panic over her realising what had hurt Sirius, Remus noted her placing the Pain-Away on his bed-side table. Ripping the cork off the top, he tried feverishly to fabricate a believable excuse for the wounds across his lover's back. Normally, James and Sirius would treat each other's wounds with the variety of potions and ointments they had either stolen from the Hospital Wing or bought from trips to Hogsmede. That way they would not arouse the attentions of the nurse. But they would normally do it before breakfast, but Remus had taken a long time to return to consciousness, and they had missed that time. He groaned, his head pounding as it tried to think, and instead decided that Sirius could think up his own excuse. There was nothing he could do except swallow yet another foul potion and sag back against his pillows.

000

"A bowtruckle."

"A bowtruckle?"

"A bowtruckle," Sirius confirmed, folding his arms stubbornly over his naked chest as the nurse cleaned the wounds on his shoulder with a fiercely stinging ointment. He could actually hear it hissing. He was sure she had picked it on purpose.

"It must have been a big bowtruckle," she observed, her heart pounding as she wished she could believe him. But it was too much of a coincidence. She saw these claw marks scattered over Remus' body every full moon, they matched them perfectly.

"It was. I was climbing the tree, not doing anything or anyone any harm, and it jumped on my back and gouged me like this. After that I was too worried about Remus not returning to come and se you, and of course, I had classes to go to."

In the end she had to pretend to believe it, just so he could go to lessons, provided with a note to say he'd had to see her so he'd be in less trouble. But she could not. Sirius had been gouged by a werewolf, and was the boyfriend of one. It could only be Remus who hurt him, and maybe he'd hurt him before, so Sirius had discovered and was now using this information over Remus. Using it to blackmail him into… Against her horrified will, Poppy Pomfrey's imagination sprung into use… It provided her with images of Remus whoring himself to Sirius to keep him quiet, becoming his bedmate, doing his work for him. Oh Merlin, the poor boy. But Poppy was as trapped as Remus in her mind surely was. She could not take this to the headmaster, because if he punished Sirius, Sirius would surely break the news of Remus' curse to the school and the world. Probably in the most harmful and humiliating way possible. He was, after all, a Black, and had just been sorted wrong. But for now, she would keep this to herself, until her suspicions were assuaged, and she would care for Remus. He would always be cared for.

**A/N: And we'll leave it there ladies and gentlemen. Please review. **


	2. Just Another Train Journey

**Disclaimer: Not mine, JK's.**

**A/N1: Yeah, I gave in to try and work on this. This next chapter is somewhat unrelated, and set the day after a different full moon.**

Remus walked through the hallways, close to Sirius' side, so that their hands brushed together with each step. He winced whenever someone brushed past him too close, until one boy crashed into him, and Remus let out a pained yowl. The boy mumbled an apology and carried on his way.

"Bastard," growled Sirius, turning around, and when Remus turned around as well, he found his lover aiming his wand at the boy's back.

"Sirius don't!" Remus exclaimed, pulling the Animagus' hand down.

"He did that on purpose," snarled Sirius, "It was Snape! He knew that last night you were –"

As Remus was wrestling with Sirius' wand hand, James obediently clamped his hand over Sirius' mouth, wrinkling his nose in disgust as Sirius tried to lick his hand to make him let go.

"Calm down, Sirius, I don't care, just come on, we'll miss the carriage," Remus growled at him. Sirius eventually held still, to show his acceptance, and Remus nodded to James to let Sirius go.

"Sorry," muttered Sirius, and Remus sighed, knowing that Sirius wouldn't have said anything or meant to.

"It's fine, let's just get going," Remus said, tugging Sirius onwards towards where the carriages were waiting for them to take them back to their homes for the summer.

James peered over his shoulder and called back, "Peter, how are you doing with the luggage?"

Behind them, Peter staggered along, a mountain of suitcases in his arms, made featherlight by spells, "Just fine thanks Prongs," he called out.

Leaning slightly towards his boyfriend as a gaggle of panicked looking first years sprinted past, Remus said, "You really shouldn't be making him carry all of those."

"Well, you're not going to carry them, you're still hurting from where you 'fell from that broom' yesterday, and –" Sirius snorted incredulously, "-James and I aren't about to carry them. So it's Wormtail's job."

"Besides, it's not like they weigh anything, it's not difficult," James put in.

"You're far too arrogant sometimes Pads," Remus admonished, but did not complain as Sirius slipped one of his arms around the werewolf's too-thin waist.

In a low voice, Sirius replied, "Let me be arrogant for the little bit that I have left."

They reached the carriages at this point, and Remus had to draw away from his lover to climb up the steps painfully, but when they were inside, Remus leant over to where Sirius was sitting opposite to plant a light kiss on his cheek. "I'm sorry," he murmured; Sirius had no reason to look forward to his summer holiday with his all Slytherin family.

But neither had Remus, so the Animagus merely replied, "Me too," reaching out a hand to lightly caress Remus' gaunt, tired face. The full moon the night before had not been easy, and he should really have been spending the day in bed. However, the Hogwarts Express waited for no lycanthrope.

A moment later, James hopped up into the carriage, and Remus drew back, merely placing his feet up on Sirius' knees and reclining into the comfortable, plush cushions at his back. "Don't stop because of me," James said, winking as he took his feet, but Sirius merely rolled his eyes. As much as he liked exhibitionism, there was a time and a place when it came to Remus joining in.

"Where's Wormtail?"queried Remus, frowning as the door clicked closed.

"On the top," James replied, smirking. "He wanted to feel the wind in his whiskers."

"I don't know when to believe you anymore," muttered Remus. "I've been a Marauder for too long." He reached up to close the somewhat moth-eaten curtains of the carriage to block out the blinding summer's morning sun that was hurting his eyes. Anyone on the outside of the coach would assume they had had an end-of-year blowout, and were nursing hangovers.

Sirius shook his head to Remus' comment, and smugly said, "No such thing as too long with Marauders."

Remus just raised his eyebrows and then raised his hand to cover a yaw. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Don't be sorry," Sirius ordered. "Just don't fall asleep until we're on the train."

000

Remus' head was pillowed comfortably on Sirius' shoulder, his legs swung out over the other seats on their side of the compartment, as he slept. Sirius himself was dozing, his head lolling down onto the werewolf's own head. Normally he would be sleeping through a lesson, but this was far more comfortable.

They were just passing through yet another field of sheep when the door slipped open and Lily Evans stood there, feet apart, eyes blazing. "James Potter, what did you do?" she demanded.

"Wha-" asked James, looking up from where he had been charming Sirius' wizard chess pieces to explode.

"Shh," hissed Sirius, opening bleary eyes and gesturing down at Remus, who was stirring slightly.

Lily looked a little bit abashed and whispered as threateningly as she could, "What did you do to Severus? He's not on the train! He's been left behind." Unable to help himself, James burst into peals of laughter. He was cackling, thumping his knee, as Lily stomped her foot. "Potter, stop laughing. It's not funny. Tell me what you did."

Swallowing his laughter, James choked out, "Nothing, nothing. But Merlin I wish I had. If you find out who it was, tell me. I want to buy them something."

Sirius rolled his eyes under his lids and forced them open, as the quickening of Remus' breath on his neck told him that he was awake. "Are you lot incapable of staying silent? We're not even an hour out of Hogsmede!" he exclaimed. Remus made a small moaning noise in protest to the Animagus snapping at the others. Automatically, Sirius raised his hand to stroke through Remus' hair, knowing just the way he liked it; tickling the short hair at the base of his neck, massaging his scalp just so, smoothing down the bits of his fringe so his fingers lightly brushed the skin of Remus' forehead, and made him shiver. In a much lower tone, he murmured, "I am sorry Reemy, but these people are not going to let you sleep. You'd get more rest flying on a broomstick above the train."

"Can we go there then?" moaned Remus, crawling up into Sirius' lap to rest his head against the Animagus'. Sirius chuckled and obediently wrapped his arms around the werewolf's waist.

Lily was watching them, her face softened by the sweetness in the couple's actions and the tenderness in each of them. "You know, we could be like that Lily," James said, slightly huskily. "If you agreed to date me."

"We could be like them?" Lily asked, her voice falsely aroused. "Gay and half-asleep? Just what I've always wanted to be."

"Bi!" Sirius put in, "I'm bi."

"Bisexual and half-asleep, then," Lily continued. There was a pause, of James probably imagining what he could do with Lily as bi and half-asleep, but Lily used it to ask, "Remus, I am sorry that we woke you up, but it's… too late now and you're the only one I trust so…. Did he make Severus stay behind?"

"If you really want to know, Snape ran past us as we were walking up here," James said, obviously trying to get onto Lily's good side.

Sirius interrupted, "He ran into some of us."

Half-heartedly, Remus hit him and told him to shut up, so that the werewolf could add, "We thought he'd left something behind."

Lily merely swore and left the carriage. "I thought she was over Snape," Sirius commented, as Remus drowsily pulled out a strand of Sirius' hair to fiddle with.

"She is," snarled James, and threw a chocolate frog at Sirius' head, only for it to bounce off Remus'.

Chaos ensued.

000

Remus was once again beginning to doze off, his head pillowed on Sirius' lap, when the door opened again with a bang. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter, silently willingly the visitor to go away and leave him alone, but beneath him Sirius was tensing and the hand whose fingers had been dancing over his face froze.

"What are you doing in here?" snarled Sirius, the fingers on Remus' face scratching slightly as the hands curled into claws. "I don't have to put up with you for another five hours."

It was the voice of Regulus that replied, "Nice to be addressed civilly by my own dear brother." Remus' eyes flicked open, and he could see enough of Sirius' face to see the snarl twisting his boyfriend's finely chiselled features.

"Quite," Sirius growled back, and Remus sat up. He did not want to be in such a vulnerable position, belly-up, slumped over the Animagus. It was half an animalistic instinct of self-preservation, the rest was because he was sure that Sirius would want to fight with his sibling, and it was his job to stop that. On the other side of the compartment, James had one hand out, a small divide between the two brothers, and ready to jump up at any moment. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't think I'm here by choice," Regulus drawled, as Remus' hand squeezed lightly on Remus' thigh. "I'm merely here to report that mother sent an owl to say that we are to make our own way home from the station as they could not spare their time to pick us up."

"Us?" Sirius' voice was incredulous, "They're leaving their precious youngest son at the station to fend for himself?" Remus' hand tightened on Sirius' leg, holding him in place more than comforting as he had planned originally.

"Well…" Regulus' grin widened, "Perhaps they can't take me home. They can however take me to Japan for the first three weeks of the summer holiday." The door slammed shut as Sirius' spell hit the wall, harmlessly deflecting off the wood and glass. For a moment, Regulus' grin showed through the glass, before he disappeared down the hallway.

James drew back, silent, as Remus moved a hand to Sirius' shoulder. "Calm down, Sirius," he ordered, glaring at him harshly, his eyes flashing gold.

"Bastard," snarled Sirius, "Bastard, bastard, bastard."

"Your folks are married, right?" queried James, trying to insert some semblance of humour.

At the same time, Remus smirked back, "I am not."

"Shut up," muttered Sirius, pulling Remus up against him. "I was allowed to be arrogant, now am I allowed to grumpy."

"Of course you are," Remus soothed, kissing Sirius' jaw.

"And my dad will give you a ride home," James said.

"And you can come round whenever you want to mine," added Remus.

James poked his head out of the compartment door briefly. "Sirius, the food trolley's coming up."

Sirius looked up, his annoyed eyes glancing up and transforming into expectation. "Food?"

"That's my Sirius, so easily distracted," grinned Remus.

**A/N2: I don't know what this chapter was. On a different unrelated note, love you L. Just thought I'd remind you.**


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